Dublin & London, 10 January 2011: Aer Lingus Group plc (“Aer Lingusâ€), today announced traffic statistics for the month of December 2010.
Aer Lingus’ booked load factor in December 2010 improved by 2.7 points on December 2009 to 74.6%. Short haul booked load factor was 73.2%, an increase of 3.7 points on December 2009, with capacity decreasing by 31.9% as a result of weather-related disruptions and planned year-on-year reductions at London Gatwick, Dublin and Cork. Long haul booked load factor was 76.6%, a decrease of 0.2 points on December 2009, with capacity decreasing by 6.6%.
Aer Lingus’ total booked passenger numbers in December 2010 were 572,000, a decrease of 25.3% compared to December 2009. Short haul booked passengers were 504,000, a 27.3% decrease on December 2009 while long haul booked passengers in December 2010 were 68,000, a decrease of 6.8% on December 2009.
In December 2010, in common with many other carriers, Aer Lingus experienced poor weather conditions leading to flight cancellations and significant disruptions to operations. As a result passengers carried were 8% below the level of booked passengers.